As oil and gas wells are drilled in more remote locations, such as in deep sea wells, the need for an ability to readily cap a blown well, pipe, or faulty blow out preventer (BOP) becomes more apparent. Known devices and methods of using them exist wherein valve actuation is by differential pressures of the well fluids, auto-responsive to pressure delivery, or manually triggered to operate the delivery of crude oils and gas upward to a riser going up to the surface of a body of water. In these well head valves through various methods of circulation of oil/gas becomes useful for production of the well. Unfortunately, the remote location makes it essential that mechanisms exist to cap such a well remotely.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,611 shows a pressure operated circulation valve for use in oil field operations, and is pressure operated without the use of a wireline tool; the valve has a sleeve assembly with telescopically joined sleeve members normally closing off a circulation port in a mandrel so that a pressure differential is used to shift the joined sleeve members to an unjoined condition opening the circulation ports, and a second pressure differential is used to rejoin the sleeve members and close off the circulation ports. The sleeve members are then independently shear pinned to the mandrel.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,776,399 and 4,729,433 show oil-well safety valves comprising a movable shutter, an inner tubular slide, a return-spring for the slide, hydraulic means for moving the slide downward by pressurization of a control fluid, a system for anchoring the valve in a receiving sleeve and packings at the contact of the receiving sleeve, the packings being located on either side of the control fluid intake; the anchoring system being located above the packings and the return spring being located below in a part of the sealed volume receiving the control fluid. The valve including an anchoring system comprising a hydraulically actuated mechanical system including a tubular shuttle piston subjected to the pressure of the control fluid to be moved upward by this fluid, and by a locking bushing located above the shuttle piston for forcing it upwardly, so that when the bushing moves, it actuates and locks anchoring dogs floating in the lock body.
A piston mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,012 including a circulation valve for use in the testing of an oil well in which the circulation valve may be reclosed by application of well annulus pressure to allow a subsequent treating or testing program. A spring means is subjected to well annulus pressure on two ends of a volume of fluid. The volume of fluid is divided by a divider which includes pressure relief mechanisms such that fluid on one side of the divider is either higher or lower than the well annulus pressure. This different pressure is applied to one set of a piston, and the other side of the piston is subject to well annulus pressure such that movement of the piston may be controlled by changing the well annulus pressure.
The addition of a ball closure device in part controlled by a testing string, and in part by pressure, is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,937. A tester valve has a ball valve rotatable between the open and closed positions for use with a test string to test an oil well. The apparatus includes a ball closing piston in the valve operating mechanism to rotate the ball to the closed position. One side of the ball closing piston is exposed to a first pressure of formation fluid flowing through the interior of the test string on the upstream side of the ball valve. The other side of the piston is exposed to a second pressure which is lower than the first pressure by a pressure drop caused as the fluid flows through the apparatus past the ball being rotated to the closed position. A bypass mechanism is additionally disclosed which is operable for equalizing the pressure on both sides of the ball closing piston when the ball is being rotated to the open position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,769 shows a method for verifying the correct operation of a safety valve of an oil well which uses a hydraulic mechanism to maintain open an oil well flow of crude oil and gas, and upon stopping the hydraulic pressure the safety valve will close to stop all oil or gas flow. This safety valve is used near the ground surface or surface of the sea of a maximum of thirty (30) meters as the hydraulic fluid is provided along the drill string that operates the valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,444 shows an anchored device to capture the upwelling crude oil or gas, and then apparatus to separate flammable gas from the useful oil that is piped away to ship or reservoir for production uses. An interesting device but inordinately heavy and cumbersome, and it has proven questionable in its efficiency and recovery utility in practice.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,910 describes a hydraulically controlled safety valve that is mounted on an underwater oil well, and is remote-controlled from a central control station. The control station is connected to a receiving station, where the valve is disposed, via a single small-section hydraulic line which feeds, at a low rate of flow, a hydro-pneumatic accumulator for supplying an operating jack of the valve. This device is typically already in place, mounted directly upon the stem pipe, now known as a BOP.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,153 describes a safety valve and operator for a rotatable Kelly or drill string, and as such this shows an operable ball valve to control a ‘blowout’ of an oil well. This valve is intended to be powered from a surface hydraulic pump, and is mountable on a spinning ‘kelly’ platform. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,682,913 and 4,661,017 both describe an apparatus and method for connecting a fluid conduit carried by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to a fluid conduit of a subsea equipment assembly, such as a hydraulically actuated device, in a non-binding manner. U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,676 describes an actual hydraulic ram valve for the forceful power of the ram method, but is shown as a prior assembly being attached by bolts prior to placement and use.
None of these patents provide an effective and direct way to attach a ram style valve to a broken pipe, or even to a pipe with a flange, under strong pressure from a fluid flow, such as high pressure flow of oil, gas, water, or the like. As such, these existing inventions are unsuitable for controlling a runaway high pressure flow especially in a remote location, such as an undersea broken well pipe. It is very difficult to attach a pipe or other device to be in fluid communication with a high pressure flow without simply blowing the device away by the gushing fluid pressure.